US20210306030A1 - Apparatus and methods for g3-plc bootstrap in a hybrid network - Google Patents
Apparatus and methods for g3-plc bootstrap in a hybrid network Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20210306030A1 US20210306030A1 US17/210,135 US202117210135A US2021306030A1 US 20210306030 A1 US20210306030 A1 US 20210306030A1 US 202117210135 A US202117210135 A US 202117210135A US 2021306030 A1 US2021306030 A1 US 2021306030A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- channel
- communication channel
- channel type
- bootstrap
- agent device
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04B—TRANSMISSION
- H04B3/00—Line transmission systems
- H04B3/54—Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
- H04L67/01—Protocols
- H04L67/12—Protocols specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04B—TRANSMISSION
- H04B3/00—Line transmission systems
- H04B3/54—Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
- H04B3/542—Systems for transmission via power distribution lines the information being in digital form
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04B—TRANSMISSION
- H04B3/00—Line transmission systems
- H04B3/54—Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
- H04B3/544—Setting up communications; Call and signalling arrangements
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
- H04L67/50—Network services
- H04L67/56—Provisioning of proxy services
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
- H04L69/08—Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
- H04L69/18—Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04B—TRANSMISSION
- H04B2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to line transmission systems
- H04B2203/54—Aspects of powerline communications not already covered by H04B3/54 and its subgroups
- H04B2203/5429—Applications for powerline communications
- H04B2203/5433—Remote metering
Definitions
- Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to apparatus and methods for g3-plc bootstrap in a hybrid network.
- embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatus and procedures for starting devices in a hybrid power line communication network.
- G3-PLC is a protocol that provides reliable communication on the electrical grid, using power line communication technology. It is hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standard organization (ITU-T G.9903) and it is supported by an international association, the G3-PLC Alliance.
- ITU International Telecommunications Union
- Sub-GHz RF is a widely used technology for Smart Grid, Smart City and Smart Home applications.
- the G3-PLC technology is extended with Sub-GHz RF to establish a hybrid network.
- PLC networks and more specifically in G3-PLC networks, as soon as a device (e.g., smart meter) is powered on, it attempts to access the network, communicating with the personal area network (PAN) Coordinator—the central device of the system.
- PAN personal area network
- the device After bootstrap is completed the device is part of the G3-PLC network. The device can then reach other devices in the network using 16-bit short address, and the routing algorithm is enabled.
- the device Prior to bootstrap completion, the device can communicate only by point-to-point communications using extended unique identifier-164 (EUI64) addressing (routing and media access control (MAC) ciphering are unavailable).
- EUI64 extended unique identifier-164
- MAC media access control
- FIG. 2 shows the bootstrap procedure in a G3 network PLC only.
- Device A powers on and needs to join the network
- LBP Bootstrap messages
- Device A sends Bootstrap messages to the PAN Coordinator, either directly or through an Agent, in this case Device B is the agent;
- the Agent is a device already part of the network, which is able to communicate to the PAN Coordinator;
- the Device B transmits the message to the final destination (Device A), which picks up its EUI64 address from the message content.
- FIG. 3 shows the bootstrap procedure in a G3 hybrid network (PLC and RF).
- LBP Bootstrap messages
- Device A sends Bootstrap messages to the PAN Coordinator, either directly or through an Agent, selecting one of the available channels (e.g., PLC or RF);
- the Device B needs to transmit the message to the final destination (Device A).
- the destination address is the EUI64 embedded in the Bootstrap message, as shown in FIG. 3 , but the problem exists regarding which channel to use for the transmission to Device A.
- Embodiments presented herein are related to communications, in particular to the scenario with different types of media used in the same network, such as power line communication (PLC) channel and radio frequency (RF) wireless channel.
- PLC power line communication
- RF radio frequency
- Embodiments generally provide an extension of PLC protocols to support RF channel as additional medium in order to create a hybrid network.
- FIG. 1 illustrates a device bootstrap process in a G3-PLC network
- FIG. 2 illustrates a bootstrap procedure in a G3 network with PLC only
- FIG. 3 illustrates a bootstrap procedure in a G3 hybrid network
- FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment LBP message
- FIG. 5 illustrates LBP communications
- FIG. 6 illustrates a smart metering system architecture
- FIG. 7 illustrates an LBD address/channel association table
- FIG. 8 illustrates updating of the table during LBP communications
- FIG. 9 illustrates an agent transmitting a bootstrap message response over both channels
- FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment processing system
- FIG. 11 illustrates a transceiver
- a first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 defines a new field in leader based protocol (LBP) protocol messages to specify the channel type (or similarly medium type or media type) over which data between the LBD (Bootstrapping Device) and the LBA (Bootstrapping Agent) has to be exchanged.
- the new field is referred to as the channel type field (or similarly medium type field or media type field) or channel type indicator (or similarly medium type indicator or media type indicator).
- the discussion focuses on channel type, channel type field, and channel type indicator, other names may be used.
- the use of channel type, channel type field, and channel type indicator should not be construed as being limiting to the scope of the embodiments.
- the channel type field may be as short as a 1-bit field.
- FIG. 6 Smart metering system architecture, in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, is illustrated in FIG. 6 .
- Embodiments of the disclosure have many advantages over known solutions such as extending G3-PLC technology to be used in hybrid networks, providing capability to characterize each link even in hybrid networks, and maintaining compatibility with standard G3-PLC implementation.
- Embodiments of the disclosure achieve these advantages by modifying the format of some messages in order to carry new information (i.e., in G3-PLC modifying LBP messages).
- the Agent maintains a table (see FIGS. 7 and 8 ) in its internal volatile memory in which, for example, each row corresponds the following associations:
- LBD address is the address of the device that is bootstrapping through the Agent
- LBD channel is the channel type, e.g., PLC or RF, use to transmit to the device.
- a third embodiment of the disclosure is discussed next with reference to FIG. 9 .
- the agent transmits the bootstrap message response over both of the channels (e.g., PLC and RF).
- embodiments of the disclosure extend PLC technology to be used in hybrid networks when other media types are used. This allows the device that is registering to the network to use any of the channels.
- FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment processing system 600 for performing methods described herein, which may be installed in a host device.
- the processing system 600 includes a processor 604 , a memory 606 , and interfaces 610 - 614 , which may (or may not) be arranged as shown in the figure.
- the processor 604 may be any component or collection of components adapted to perform computations and/or other processing related tasks
- the memory 606 may be any component or collection of components adapted to store programming and/or instructions for execution by the processor 604 .
- the memory 606 includes a non-transitory computer readable medium.
- the interfaces 610 , 612 , 614 may be any component or collection of components that allow the processing system 600 to communicate with other devices/components and/or a user.
- one or more of the interfaces 610 , 612 , 614 may be adapted to communicate data, control, or management messages from the processor 604 to applications installed on the host device and/or a remote device.
- one or more of the interfaces 610 , 612 , 614 may be adapted to allow a user or user device (e.g., personal computer (PC), etc.) to interact/communicate with the processing system 600 .
- the processing system 600 may include additional components not depicted in the figure, such as long term storage (e.g., non-volatile memory, etc.).
- the processing system 600 is included in a network device that is accessing, or part otherwise of, a telecommunications network.
- the processing system 600 is in a network-side device in a wireless or wireline telecommunications network, such as a base station, a relay station, a scheduler, a controller, a gateway, a router, an applications server, a data concentrator, or any other device in the telecommunications network.
- the processing system 600 is in a user-side device accessing a wireless or wireline telecommunications network, such as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a personal computer (PC), a tablet, a wearable communications device (e.g., a smartwatch, etc.), a smart meter, or any other device adapted to access a telecommunications network.
- a wireless or wireline telecommunications network such as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a personal computer (PC), a tablet, a wearable communications device (e.g., a smartwatch, etc.), a smart meter, or any other device adapted to access a telecommunications network.
- one or more of the interfaces 610 , 612 , 614 connects the processing system 600 to a transceiver adapted to transmit and receive signaling over the telecommunications network.
- FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a transceiver 700 adapted to transmit and receive signaling over a telecommunications network.
- the transceiver 700 may be installed in a host device. As shown, the transceiver 700 comprises a network-side interface 702 , a coupler 704 , a transmitter 706 , a receiver 708 , a signal processor 710 , and a device-side interface 712 .
- the network-side interface 702 may include any component or collection of components adapted to transmit or receive signaling over a wireless or wireline telecommunications network.
- the coupler 704 may include any component or collection of components adapted to facilitate bi-directional communication over the network-side interface 702 .
- the transmitter 706 may include any component or collection of components (e.g., up-converter, power amplifier, etc.) adapted to convert a baseband signal into a modulated carrier signal suitable for transmission over the network-side interface 702 .
- the receiver 708 may include any component or collection of components (e.g., down-converter, low noise amplifier, etc.) adapted to convert a carrier signal received over the network-side interface 702 into a baseband signal.
- the signal processor 710 may include any component or collection of components adapted to convert a baseband signal into a data signal suitable for communication over the device-side interface(s) 712 , or vice-versa.
- the device-side interface(s) 712 may include any component or collection of components adapted to communicate data-signals between the signal processor 710 and components within the host device (e.g., the processing system 600 , local area network (LAN) ports, etc.).
- the transceiver 700 may transmit and receive signaling over any type of communications medium.
- the transceiver 700 transmits and receives signaling over a wireless medium.
- the transceiver 700 may be a wireless transceiver adapted to communicate in accordance with a wireless telecommunications protocol, such as a cellular protocol (e.g., long-term evolution (LTE), etc.), a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi, etc.), or any other type of wireless protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), Sub-1 GHz RF, etc.).
- the network-side interface 702 comprises one or more antenna/radiating elements.
- the network-side interface 702 may include a single antenna, multiple separate antennas, or a multi-antenna array configured for multi-layer communication, e.g., single input multiple output (SIMO), multiple input single output (MISO), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), etc.
- the transceiver 700 transmits and receives signaling over a wireline medium, e.g., twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, optical fiber, Power Line, etc.
- Specific processing systems and/or transceivers may utilize all of the components shown, or only a subset of the components, and levels of integration may vary from device to device.
- a signal may be transmitted by a transmitting unit or a transmitting module.
- a signal may be received by a receiving unit or a receiving module.
- a signal may be processed by a processing unit or a processing module.
- Other steps may be performed by, e.g., a configuration unit/module.
- the respective units/modules may be hardware, software, or a combination thereof.
- one or more of the units/modules may be an integrated circuit, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
- FPGAs field programmable gate arrays
- ASICs application-specific integrated circuits
- a method comprises receiving, by an agent device, from a first device, a bootstrap request message over a first communication channel; transmitting, by the agent device, to a coordinating device, a second request message comprising the bootstrap request message and a first channel type indicator indicating a channel type of the first communication channel; receiving, by the agent device, from the coordinating device, a first response message comprising a bootstrap response message and a second channel type indicator indicating the channel type of the first communication channel; and transmitting, by the agent device, to the first device, the bootstrap response message over a second communication channel in accordance with the second channel type indicator.
- the channel type being either a power line communication channel or a radio frequency channel.
- the first communication channel and the second communication channel being a same channel type.
- the first channel type indicator being a 1-bit indicator.
- the first channel type indicator and the second channel type indicator being the same.
- the bootstrap request message comprises a third channel type indicator indicating the channel type of the first communication channel.
- the first communication channel comprises a channel from the first device to the agent device and the second communication channel comprises a channel from the agent device to the first device.
- an agent device comprises a memory storing a program; and a processor configured to execute the program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, is configured to perform the method of any one of the first to seventh aspects.
- a method comprises receiving, by an agent device, from a first device, a bootstrap request message over a first communication channel; transmitting, by the agent device, to a coordinating device, a second request message comprising the bootstrap request message and an address of the first device; storing, by the agent device, the address of the first device and a channel type of the first communication channel; receiving, by the agent device, from the coordinating device, a first response message comprising a bootstrap response message and the address of the first device; identifying, by the agent device, a second communication channel in accordance with the channel type of the first communication channel associated with the address of the first device; and transmitting, by the agent device, to the first device, the bootstrap response message over the second communication channel.
- the channel type being either a power line communication channel or a radio frequency channel.
- the first communication channel and the second communication channel being the same channel type.
- the address of the device and the channel type of the first communication channel are stored in a memory of the agent device.
- the channel type of the first communication channel being a 1-bit indicator.
- an agent device comprises a memory storing a program; and a processor configured to execute the program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 9 - 13 .
- a method comprises receiving, by an agent device, from a device, a bootstrap request message over a first communication channel; transmitting, by the agent device, to a coordinating device, a request message comprising the bootstrap request message and an address of the device; receiving, by the agent device, from the coordinating device, a response message comprising a bootstrap response message and the address of the device; and transmitting, by the agent device, to the device, the response message over a plurality of communication channels, the plurality of communication channels comprising different channel types of communication channels between the agent device and the device.
- the channel types comprising at least a power line communication (PLC) channel type and a radio frequency (RF) channel type.
- PLC power line communication
- RF radio frequency
- the plurality of communication channels comprising at least one communication channel of each channel type.
- an agent device comprises a memory storing a program; and a processor configured to execute the program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, is configured to perform the method of any one of the fifteenth to seventeenth aspects.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Power Engineering (AREA)
- Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Computing Systems (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Medical Informatics (AREA)
- Cable Transmission Systems, Equalization Of Radio And Reduction Of Echo (AREA)
- Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- This application claims the benefit of Italian Application No. 102020000006739, filed on Mar. 31, 2020, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
- Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to apparatus and methods for g3-plc bootstrap in a hybrid network. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatus and procedures for starting devices in a hybrid power line communication network.
- G3-PLC is a protocol that provides reliable communication on the electrical grid, using power line communication technology. It is hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standard organization (ITU-T G.9903) and it is supported by an international association, the G3-PLC Alliance.
- Sub-GHz RF is a widely used technology for Smart Grid, Smart City and Smart Home applications.
- The G3-PLC technology is extended with Sub-GHz RF to establish a hybrid network.
- In PLC networks, and more specifically in G3-PLC networks, as soon as a device (e.g., smart meter) is powered on, it attempts to access the network, communicating with the personal area network (PAN) Coordinator—the central device of the system.
- That process is called bootstrap and is shown in
FIG. 1 as: - Obtaining security credentials;
- Associating with the PAN Coordinator;
- Obtaining a 16-bit short address; and
- Constructing an IPv6 address.
- After bootstrap is completed the device is part of the G3-PLC network. The device can then reach other devices in the network using 16-bit short address, and the routing algorithm is enabled.
- Prior to bootstrap completion, the device can communicate only by point-to-point communications using extended unique identifier-164 (EUI64) addressing (routing and media access control (MAC) ciphering are unavailable).
- The example in
FIG. 2 shows the bootstrap procedure in a G3 network PLC only. - Device A powers on and needs to join the network;
- Device A composes Bootstrap messages (LBP) storing its EUI64 address inside;
- Device A sends Bootstrap messages to the PAN Coordinator, either directly or through an Agent, in this case Device B is the agent;
- The Agent is a device already part of the network, which is able to communicate to the PAN Coordinator;
- When the PAN Coordinator replies, it sends the Bootstrap messages to Device B; and
- The Device B transmits the message to the final destination (Device A), which picks up its EUI64 address from the message content.
- The example in
FIG. 3 shows the bootstrap procedure in a G3 hybrid network (PLC and RF). - Device A composes Bootstrap messages (LBP) storing its EUI64 address inside;
- Device A sends Bootstrap messages to the PAN Coordinator, either directly or through an Agent, selecting one of the available channels (e.g., PLC or RF);
- When the PAN Coordinator replies it sends the Bootstrap messages to Agent—Device B; and
- The Device B needs to transmit the message to the final destination (Device A).
- The destination address is the EUI64 embedded in the Bootstrap message, as shown in
FIG. 3 , but the problem exists regarding which channel to use for the transmission to Device A. - Applicant is not aware of previous solutions to solve the above problems.
- Embodiments presented herein are related to communications, in particular to the scenario with different types of media used in the same network, such as power line communication (PLC) channel and radio frequency (RF) wireless channel.
- Embodiments generally provide an extension of PLC protocols to support RF channel as additional medium in order to create a hybrid network.
- For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
-
FIG. 1 illustrates a device bootstrap process in a G3-PLC network; -
FIG. 2 illustrates a bootstrap procedure in a G3 network with PLC only; -
FIG. 3 illustrates a bootstrap procedure in a G3 hybrid network; -
FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment LBP message; -
FIG. 5 illustrates LBP communications; -
FIG. 6 illustrates a smart metering system architecture; -
FIG. 7 illustrates an LBD address/channel association table; -
FIG. 8 illustrates updating of the table during LBP communications; -
FIG. 9 illustrates an agent transmitting a bootstrap message response over both channels; -
FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment processing system; and -
FIG. 11 illustrates a transceiver. - Specific embodiments of the invention are described below.
- A first embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 4 and 5 defines a new field in leader based protocol (LBP) protocol messages to specify the channel type (or similarly medium type or media type) over which data between the LBD (Bootstrapping Device) and the LBA (Bootstrapping Agent) has to be exchanged. The new field is referred to as the channel type field (or similarly medium type field or media type field) or channel type indicator (or similarly medium type indicator or media type indicator). Although the discussion focuses on channel type, channel type field, and channel type indicator, other names may be used. The use of channel type, channel type field, and channel type indicator should not be construed as being limiting to the scope of the embodiments. The channel type field may be as short as a 1-bit field. - Smart metering system architecture, in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, is illustrated in
FIG. 6 . - Embodiments of the disclosure have many advantages over known solutions such as extending G3-PLC technology to be used in hybrid networks, providing capability to characterize each link even in hybrid networks, and maintaining compatibility with standard G3-PLC implementation.
- Embodiments of the disclosure achieve these advantages by modifying the format of some messages in order to carry new information (i.e., in G3-PLC modifying LBP messages).
- A second embodiment of the disclosure is discussed next.
- In the second embodiment, the Agent maintains a table (see
FIGS. 7 and 8 ) in its internal volatile memory in which, for example, each row corresponds the following associations: - <LBD address>, <LBD channel used to TX>
- Where LBD address is the address of the device that is bootstrapping through the Agent, and LBD channel is the channel type, e.g., PLC or RF, use to transmit to the device.
- A third embodiment of the disclosure is discussed next with reference to
FIG. 9 . - In the third embodiment, the agent transmits the bootstrap message response over both of the channels (e.g., PLC and RF).
- Accordingly, embodiments of the disclosure extend PLC technology to be used in hybrid networks when other media types are used. This allows the device that is registering to the network to use any of the channels.
-
FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of anembodiment processing system 600 for performing methods described herein, which may be installed in a host device. As shown, theprocessing system 600 includes aprocessor 604, amemory 606, and interfaces 610-614, which may (or may not) be arranged as shown in the figure. Theprocessor 604 may be any component or collection of components adapted to perform computations and/or other processing related tasks, and thememory 606 may be any component or collection of components adapted to store programming and/or instructions for execution by theprocessor 604. In an embodiment, thememory 606 includes a non-transitory computer readable medium. Theinterfaces processing system 600 to communicate with other devices/components and/or a user. For example, one or more of theinterfaces processor 604 to applications installed on the host device and/or a remote device. As another example, one or more of theinterfaces processing system 600. Theprocessing system 600 may include additional components not depicted in the figure, such as long term storage (e.g., non-volatile memory, etc.). - In some embodiments, the
processing system 600 is included in a network device that is accessing, or part otherwise of, a telecommunications network. In one example, theprocessing system 600 is in a network-side device in a wireless or wireline telecommunications network, such as a base station, a relay station, a scheduler, a controller, a gateway, a router, an applications server, a data concentrator, or any other device in the telecommunications network. In other embodiments, theprocessing system 600 is in a user-side device accessing a wireless or wireline telecommunications network, such as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a personal computer (PC), a tablet, a wearable communications device (e.g., a smartwatch, etc.), a smart meter, or any other device adapted to access a telecommunications network. - In some embodiments, one or more of the
interfaces processing system 600 to a transceiver adapted to transmit and receive signaling over the telecommunications network.FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of atransceiver 700 adapted to transmit and receive signaling over a telecommunications network. Thetransceiver 700 may be installed in a host device. As shown, thetransceiver 700 comprises a network-side interface 702, acoupler 704, atransmitter 706, areceiver 708, asignal processor 710, and a device-side interface 712. The network-side interface 702 may include any component or collection of components adapted to transmit or receive signaling over a wireless or wireline telecommunications network. Thecoupler 704 may include any component or collection of components adapted to facilitate bi-directional communication over the network-side interface 702. Thetransmitter 706 may include any component or collection of components (e.g., up-converter, power amplifier, etc.) adapted to convert a baseband signal into a modulated carrier signal suitable for transmission over the network-side interface 702. Thereceiver 708 may include any component or collection of components (e.g., down-converter, low noise amplifier, etc.) adapted to convert a carrier signal received over the network-side interface 702 into a baseband signal. Thesignal processor 710 may include any component or collection of components adapted to convert a baseband signal into a data signal suitable for communication over the device-side interface(s) 712, or vice-versa. The device-side interface(s) 712 may include any component or collection of components adapted to communicate data-signals between thesignal processor 710 and components within the host device (e.g., theprocessing system 600, local area network (LAN) ports, etc.). - The
transceiver 700 may transmit and receive signaling over any type of communications medium. In some embodiments, thetransceiver 700 transmits and receives signaling over a wireless medium. For example, thetransceiver 700 may be a wireless transceiver adapted to communicate in accordance with a wireless telecommunications protocol, such as a cellular protocol (e.g., long-term evolution (LTE), etc.), a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi, etc.), or any other type of wireless protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), Sub-1 GHz RF, etc.). In such embodiments, the network-side interface 702 comprises one or more antenna/radiating elements. For example, the network-side interface 702 may include a single antenna, multiple separate antennas, or a multi-antenna array configured for multi-layer communication, e.g., single input multiple output (SIMO), multiple input single output (MISO), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), etc. In other embodiments, thetransceiver 700 transmits and receives signaling over a wireline medium, e.g., twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, optical fiber, Power Line, etc. Specific processing systems and/or transceivers may utilize all of the components shown, or only a subset of the components, and levels of integration may vary from device to device. - It should be appreciated that one or more steps of the embodiment methods provided herein may be performed by corresponding units or modules. For example, a signal may be transmitted by a transmitting unit or a transmitting module. A signal may be received by a receiving unit or a receiving module. A signal may be processed by a processing unit or a processing module. Other steps may be performed by, e.g., a configuration unit/module. The respective units/modules may be hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For instance, one or more of the units/modules may be an integrated circuit, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
- While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.
- For example, according to a first aspect a method comprises receiving, by an agent device, from a first device, a bootstrap request message over a first communication channel; transmitting, by the agent device, to a coordinating device, a second request message comprising the bootstrap request message and a first channel type indicator indicating a channel type of the first communication channel; receiving, by the agent device, from the coordinating device, a first response message comprising a bootstrap response message and a second channel type indicator indicating the channel type of the first communication channel; and transmitting, by the agent device, to the first device, the bootstrap response message over a second communication channel in accordance with the second channel type indicator.
- According to a second aspect depending on the method of the first aspect, the channel type being either a power line communication channel or a radio frequency channel.
- According to a third aspect depending on the method of the first aspect, the first communication channel and the second communication channel being a same channel type.
- According to a fourth aspect depending on the method of the first aspect, the first channel type indicator being a 1-bit indicator.
- According to a fifth aspect depending on the method of the first aspect, the first channel type indicator and the second channel type indicator being the same.
- According to a sixth aspect depending on the method of the first aspect, wherein the bootstrap request message comprises a third channel type indicator indicating the channel type of the first communication channel.
- According to a seventh aspect depending on the method of the first aspect, wherein the first communication channel comprises a channel from the first device to the agent device and the second communication channel comprises a channel from the agent device to the first device.
- According to an eighth aspect, an agent device comprises a memory storing a program; and a processor configured to execute the program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, is configured to perform the method of any one of the first to seventh aspects.
- According to a ninth aspect a method comprises receiving, by an agent device, from a first device, a bootstrap request message over a first communication channel; transmitting, by the agent device, to a coordinating device, a second request message comprising the bootstrap request message and an address of the first device; storing, by the agent device, the address of the first device and a channel type of the first communication channel; receiving, by the agent device, from the coordinating device, a first response message comprising a bootstrap response message and the address of the first device; identifying, by the agent device, a second communication channel in accordance with the channel type of the first communication channel associated with the address of the first device; and transmitting, by the agent device, to the first device, the bootstrap response message over the second communication channel.
- According to a tenth aspect depending on the method of the ninth aspect, the channel type being either a power line communication channel or a radio frequency channel.
- According to an eleventh aspect depending on the method of the ninth aspect, the first communication channel and the second communication channel being the same channel type.
- According to a twelfth eleventh aspect depending on the method of the ninth aspect, the address of the device and the channel type of the first communication channel are stored in a memory of the agent device.
- According to a thirteenth aspect depending on the method of the ninth aspect, the channel type of the first communication channel being a 1-bit indicator.
- According to a fourteenth aspect, an agent device comprises a memory storing a program; and a processor configured to execute the program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 9-13.
- According to a fifteenth aspect a method comprises receiving, by an agent device, from a device, a bootstrap request message over a first communication channel; transmitting, by the agent device, to a coordinating device, a request message comprising the bootstrap request message and an address of the device; receiving, by the agent device, from the coordinating device, a response message comprising a bootstrap response message and the address of the device; and transmitting, by the agent device, to the device, the response message over a plurality of communication channels, the plurality of communication channels comprising different channel types of communication channels between the agent device and the device.
- According to a sixteenth aspect depending on the method of the fifteenth aspect, the channel types comprising at least a power line communication (PLC) channel type and a radio frequency (RF) channel type.
- According to a seventeenth aspect depending on the method of the fifteenth aspect, the plurality of communication channels comprising at least one communication channel of each channel type.
- According to an eighteenth aspect, an agent device comprises a memory storing a program; and a processor configured to execute the program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by the processor, is configured to perform the method of any one of the fifteenth to seventeenth aspects.
- While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.
Claims (20)
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
CN202110339715.XA CN113542343A (en) | 2020-03-31 | 2021-03-30 | Apparatus and method for G3-PLC bootstrapping in hybrid networks |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
IT102020000006739 | 2020-03-31 | ||
IT202000006739 | 2020-03-31 |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20210306030A1 true US20210306030A1 (en) | 2021-09-30 |
US11233540B2 US11233540B2 (en) | 2022-01-25 |
Family
ID=74884833
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US17/210,135 Active US11233540B2 (en) | 2020-03-31 | 2021-03-23 | Apparatus and methods for G3-PLC bootstrap in a hybrid network |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US11233540B2 (en) |
EP (2) | EP3890195B1 (en) |
CN (1) | CN113542343A (en) |
Families Citing this family (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
IT202000000892A1 (en) | 2020-01-17 | 2021-07-17 | St Microelectronics Srl | PROCEDURE FOR OPERATING A COMMUNICATION NETWORK, COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND CORRESPONDING DEVICES |
Family Cites Families (10)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR100617835B1 (en) | 2005-01-05 | 2006-08-28 | 삼성전자주식회사 | Apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving a channel quality information in a communication system |
US8958356B2 (en) * | 2010-12-03 | 2015-02-17 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Routing protocols for power line communications (PLC) |
EP2687000B1 (en) * | 2011-03-14 | 2017-03-08 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Hybrid networking simple-connect setup using proxy device |
US9143197B2 (en) | 2011-10-18 | 2015-09-22 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Joining process for G3 networks |
US20160081005A1 (en) | 2014-09-17 | 2016-03-17 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Route formation and message transmission in a data link group over multiple channels |
US20160150459A1 (en) | 2014-11-19 | 2016-05-26 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Techniques to support heterogeneous network data path discovery |
US9913195B2 (en) | 2015-06-19 | 2018-03-06 | Terranet Ab | Mesh path selection |
US10412656B2 (en) | 2015-06-22 | 2019-09-10 | Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) | Path selection in wireless mesh networks |
US9967884B2 (en) | 2015-11-10 | 2018-05-08 | Netgear, Inc. | Dedicated backhaul for whole home coverage |
US10716048B2 (en) | 2018-09-10 | 2020-07-14 | Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) | Detecting critical links in bluetooth mesh networks |
-
2021
- 2021-03-16 EP EP21162767.4A patent/EP3890195B1/en active Active
- 2021-03-16 EP EP24166384.8A patent/EP4369616A2/en active Pending
- 2021-03-23 US US17/210,135 patent/US11233540B2/en active Active
- 2021-03-30 CN CN202110339715.XA patent/CN113542343A/en active Pending
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP4369616A2 (en) | 2024-05-15 |
CN113542343A (en) | 2021-10-22 |
EP3890195A1 (en) | 2021-10-06 |
US11233540B2 (en) | 2022-01-25 |
EP3890195B1 (en) | 2024-05-15 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US11265736B2 (en) | Method for configuring ANR, terminal device, base station, and core network device | |
US8041392B2 (en) | Radio equipment control, radio equipment and communication system | |
US20200366429A1 (en) | Data transmission method, base station and terminal | |
US11832225B2 (en) | Method and device for configuring relay resource | |
US20220141803A1 (en) | Method and device for determining codebook subset, and user equipment | |
EP2849412B1 (en) | Data processing method and device, and computer storage medium | |
US11528710B2 (en) | Time domain resource indication method in relay network, network device, and user equipment | |
US10390232B2 (en) | Systems and methods for a wireless network bridge | |
US11490263B2 (en) | Assisted discovery of a local private 3GPP network via a local private non-3GPP wireless network | |
WO2018120102A1 (en) | Beam selection method, apparatus and system | |
CN111512685A (en) | Channel state information measuring method, device and computer storage medium | |
US11233540B2 (en) | Apparatus and methods for G3-PLC bootstrap in a hybrid network | |
US9706477B2 (en) | Method and device for configuring multi-band based link in wireless LAN system | |
CN116391445A (en) | CSI reporting configuration based on UE capability | |
CN114885039B (en) | Data transmission method, device and storage medium | |
JP2023516531A (en) | RESOURCE INSTRUCTION METHOD, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND NETWORK DEVICE | |
WO2024031570A1 (en) | Csi-rs resource configuration method and apparatus, and device and medium | |
US20220295535A1 (en) | Information determination method and apparatus, device, and storage medium | |
US20240106690A1 (en) | Codebook and Non-Codebook Support for SRS with 6 Ports | |
US20230276419A1 (en) | Base station and user equipment | |
CN117693045A (en) | Information transmission method and device | |
CN116887425A (en) | Communication method and related device | |
CN117730605A (en) | Method and device for sidestream communication | |
CN118283815A (en) | Method and device for sharing cellular network, electronic equipment and storage medium | |
CN117222033A (en) | Communication method and communication device |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: ENTITY STATUS SET TO UNDISCOUNTED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: BIG.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: LARGE ENTITY |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L., ITALY Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:VARESIO, MATTEO;TREFFILETTI, PAOLO;REEL/FRAME:055851/0556 Effective date: 20210316 |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: DOCKETED NEW CASE - READY FOR EXAMINATION |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE MAILED -- APPLICATION RECEIVED IN OFFICE OF PUBLICATIONS |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: AWAITING TC RESP., ISSUE FEE NOT PAID |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE MAILED -- APPLICATION RECEIVED IN OFFICE OF PUBLICATIONS |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: PUBLICATIONS -- ISSUE FEE PAYMENT RECEIVED |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: PUBLICATIONS -- ISSUE FEE PAYMENT VERIFIED |
|
STCF | Information on status: patent grant |
Free format text: PATENTED CASE |